The Story Behind J.W.Anderson’s Twisted New Bags

Spend five minutes playing with Richard X. Zawitz’s Tangle Creations and you’ll be hooked. The toys, actually smaller-scale models of Zawitz’s fine art sculptures, are made of interlocked 90-degree curves that can be twisted and bent into a plethora of poses. The process of winding and twisting the pieces is addicting, perhaps more than it should be because no matter how hard you try to make something useful from the shining forms, they evade any common functionality. They’re slightly too large to be a bracelet, too small to be a necklace, and not the right proportion for a penholder or a bookend. But leave it to J.W.Anderson to solve the problem: The brand partnered with Zawitz on handles inspired by the Tangles for its Spring 2016 bags, and the results are as arresting as the toys themselves.

“They just contacted me out of the clear blue sky,” Zawitz explains over the phone from Hong Kong, where he spends part of the year working. “I’m not in the fashion industry, so I had not heard of J.W.Anderson, but since working with them, I’ve become well acquainted with the young man and know they’re a hot young brand coming to the fore.”

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Photo: Courtesy of PR Consulting / @prconsulting

The collaboration was completed via conference calls and Skype, with the artist contributing ideas from his San Francisco studio to Jonathan Anderson’s team in London. The resulting brightly hued pouches with the Tangles as handles became an Instagram sensation following the label’s show, thanks in part to a photo shoot that occurred backstage where one of Zawitz’s life-sized sculptures was installed. For the artist, the experience of seeing his work in a fashion show and on social media was thrilling. “I’m all for the propagation of my art and everything I do. I would be selective if it wasn’t something that was aesthetically pleasing, I can tell you that for sure, but the way they presented it and the team—everything just seemed absolutely perfect in the sense that we were going to get along and they had a delightful functionality for the sculpture,” he says. Since the runway show in September, he has been honing the bag design with Anderson’s team before they are produced for sale this spring.

And though he’s never produced a fashion piece before, Zawitz is no stranger to the world of fashion at large. His Tangles have been worn by Grace Jones and Michael Jackson, who sported a large-scale version in L’Uomo Vogue’s cover story lensed by Bruce Weber back in 2007. Zawitz has also developed a methodology to turn his twisting sculptures into shoes. “I’m entirely inspired by working with J.W.Anderson and would very much like to continue in this world,” he notes. “I very much like fashion—I’m a Zegna man, myself—but I appreciate fashion as art.”